Adjustable strap assembly



Dec. 4, 1962 A, GARSQN 3,066,374

ADJUSTABLE STRAP ASSEMBLY Filed May 13, 1960 FIGJ FIG. 3

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| i 52 FIG}? I LZ/A Irma/AI n51] 32 32 INVENTOR. flrf/mr Gama "m ozi kzv ATTORNEY United rates Fatent 3,066,374 ADJUSTABLE STRAP ASSEMBLY Arthur Garson, 941 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. Filed May 13, 1960, Ser. No. 29,041 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-198) The present invention relates to a strap assembly which may be used as a shoulder strap for articles such as brassieres, slips, etc. More specifically, the present invention relates to an adjustable strap assembly which is extremely simple in construction and use, which is reliable, and the cost of which is much lower than other conventional strap assemblies used in the art.

In accordance with the prior art strap assembly constructions, it is customary to secure one end of a strap to an apertured buckle. This is commonly done by forming a loop around one of the ribs of the buckle and by stitching such loop so as to prevent any substantial relative movement of the looped end of the strap with the buckle. This looping and stitching operation is time consuming and costly.

In accordance with the present invention, there is utilized a novel buckle to which the end of a strap can be secured without requiring the formation of a loop and the stitching thereof. The novel buckle is provided with a narrow slit into which there is inserted the end of the strap. The walls of the slits are then forcibly deformed to crimp the end of the strap in the slits and fixedly secure such end to the buckle. This operation is one which does not require much time and one which can be done at a greatly reduced cost.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a generally improved strap assembly.

Another object is the provision of a novel strap assembly in which one end of the strap is fixedly secured to a buckle without requiring a stitching operation.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a strap assembly having a buckle provided with a narrow slit in which is securely held in crimped fashion the end of a strap.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a brassiere provided with strap assemblies in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the area identified by the numeral 2 in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views of the buckle in accordance with the present invention, on a larger scale, showing the manner of securing the end of the strap to the buckle;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of the area identified by the numeral 2 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a prior art buckle with the end of a strap fixedly secured thereto by the conventional looping and stitching operation.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a brassiere 10 provided with a pair of shoulder strap assemblies 12. Each of shoulder strap assemblies 12 comprises a pair of straps L1 and L2 and a pair of buckles 14 and 16. As will hereafter be fully explained, straps L1 and L2 are interconnected with buckles 14 and 16 to form the adjustable strap assembly 12 in accordance with the invention.

As best seen in FIG. 5, buckle 14 comprises a closed aperture 18, a narrow slit 20 and an aperture 22 which is open between confronting ribs 24 and 26. Aperture 18 is disposed between transverse ribs 28 and 3t and slit 20 is disposed between transverse ribs 36 and 32. Buckle 16 comprises a pair of closed apertures 34 and 36 separated by transverse ribs 38, 40 and 42. The buckles are preferably made of a suitable metal.

The strap assembly is constituted as follows: Strap L2 forms a closed loop around rib 38 in aperture 34 and the loop thus formed may be stitched as at 44. Portion 46 of strap portion L2 which extends beyond line of stitching 44 may then be fixedly secured to the front of the garment as at 48.

Strap L1 has end 50 thereof fixedly secured to the buckle 14, without forming a loop. As shown in FIG. 3, end 50 is first inserted into the relatively narrow slit 24), after which the transverse ribs 30 and 32 are forcibly moved toward each other and in that way literally squeeze end 54 therebetween, to fixedly hold the latter therebetween. The transverse ribs 30 and 32 are actually deformed and crimp the end 50 to fixedly and securely hold said end therebetween, as best shown in FIG. 4. From end 50, strap L1 passes through aperture 36 of buckle 16 forming a loop around transverse rib 42 of buckle 16. The strap is then passed under rib 28, through aperture 18 of buckle 14 and into open aperture 22 of buckle 14, as best shown in FIG. 5. The other end 52 of strap L1 is then fixedly secured to the garment, at the rear thereof, as shown in FIG. 1.

From FIG. 5 it is clearly seen that in order to adjust the strap, all that is necessary to be done is to pass strap L1 between ribs 24 and 26 and then to either shorten or lengthen the loop through aperture 36, depending upon whether it is desired to increase or decrease the length of the strap. Once the loop has been adjusted to its desired length, strap L1 is passed between confronting ribs 24 and 26' into open aperture 22 and the adjusting operation is completed. It will of course be noted that the confronting ribs 24 and 26 bear against strap L1 during normal wear of the garment to prevent any relative slippage of strap L1 with respect to buckle 14 and to thereby obviate the undesired lengthening of the strap.

The essence of the invention is in the manner of securing the free end 50 to buckle 14. In accordance with applicants buckle construction, a very simple operation is all that is required, namely, the insertion of the free end 50 in narrow slit 20 and then the forcible deformation of parts 30 and 32 to crimp said end 50 therebetween. This is a relatively simple operation. The immense advantage of this manner of securing said free end 50 is best illustrated by reference to FIG. 6 which shows a strap assembly made according to the prior art. Referring therefore to FIG. 6, it will be noted that the strap assembly of FIG. 6 is generally similar to that of FIG. 5, except in the manner in which end 50 is secured to buckle 14'. More specifically, it will be noted that in accordance with the prior art, buckle 14' is not provided with a narrow slit such as slit 20 in FIG. 5. Instead, a loop is formed at end 50 of strap L1 which is looped around the center transverse rib 30', and a stitching operation such as shown at 32 is required to fixedly secure end 50 to the buckle 14.

It is thus seen that the prior art requires a stitching operation which is time consuming and which substantially prevents the assembly of straps in mass production. On the other hand, applicants manner of securing end 50 of strap L1 to buckle 14 does not require a stitching operation and can easily be done in a mass production way so as to decrease substantially the cost of the assembly.

While I have shown and described the preferred em hodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described, and that in the illustrated embodiment certain changes in the details of construction and in the form and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the underlying idea or principles of this invention within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an adjustable strap assembly for a garment, in combination, a buckle having a pair of apertures separated by a central part which is provided with a narrow slit, said slit dividing said central part into a pair of closely spaced ribs, and a strap having one end thereof adapted to be fixedly secured to said garment, said strap extending from said one end thereof and being threaded through both apertures of said buckle and terminating in the other end thereof, said other end of said strap being disposed in said narrow slit between said ribs, said ribs being squeezed toward each other for crimping said other end therebetween and fixedly and permanently securing the latter to said buckle, whereby said other end cannot be removed from said buckle without mutilating the latter.

2. In an adjustable strap assembly for a garment, in combination, a buckle having a pair of apertures separated by a central part which is provided with a narrow slit, said slit dividing said central part into a pair of closely spaced ribs, and a strap having one end thereof adapted to be fixedly secured to said garment, said strap extending from said one end thereof and being threaded through both apertures of said buckle and terminating in the other end thereof, said other end of said one strap being disposed in said narrow slit between said ribs, and said ribs being squeezed toward each other for crimping said other end therebetween and fixedly and permanently securing the latter to said buckle, whereby said other end cannot be removed from said buckle without mutilating the latter, one of the apertures of said buckle being open whereby said strap may easily be withdrawn from said one aperture of said buckle for adjusting the length of the strap assembly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 459,362 Guilbert Sept. 8, 1891 703,152 Pilkington June 24, 1902 1,394,195 Garceau Oct. 18, 1921 2,099,199 Devendor et al Nov. 16, 1937 2,133,153 Shaulson Oct. 11, 1938 

